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   "cell_type": "markdown",
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   "source": [
    "# Find Files"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "A function that finds files in a given directory based on substring matches and returns a list of the file names found."
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "> from mlxtend.file_io import find_files"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "## Overview"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "This function finds files based on substring search. This is especially useful if we want to find specific files in a directory tree and return their absolute paths for further processing in Python."
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "### References\n",
    "\n",
    "- -"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "## Example 1 - Grouping related files in a dictionary"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "Given the following directory and file structure\n",
    "\n",
    "    dir_1/\n",
    "        file_1.log\n",
    "        file_2.log\n",
    "        file_3.log\n",
    "    dir_2/\n",
    "        file_1.csv\n",
    "        file_2.csv\n",
    "        file_3.csv\n",
    "    dir_3/\n",
    "        file_1.txt\n",
    "        file_2.txt\n",
    "        file_3.txt\n",
    "        \n",
    "we can use `find_files` to return the paths to all files that contain the substring `_2` as follows: "
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 1,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "['./data_find_filegroups/dir_1/file_2.log',\n",
       " './data_find_filegroups/dir_2/file_2.csv',\n",
       " './data_find_filegroups/dir_3/file_2.txt']"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 1,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "from mlxtend.file_io import find_files\n",
    "\n",
    "find_files(substring='_2', path='./data_find_filegroups/', recursive=True)"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "markdown",
   "metadata": {},
   "source": [
    "## API"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 1,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "## find_files\n",
      "\n",
      "*find_files(substring, path, recursive=False, check_ext=None, ignore_invisible=True, ignore_substring=None)*\n",
      "\n",
      "Find files in a directory based on substring matching.\n",
      "\n",
      "**Parameters**\n",
      "\n",
      "- `substring` : `str`\n",
      "\n",
      "    Substring of the file to be matched.\n",
      "\n",
      "- `path` : `str`\n",
      "\n",
      "    Path where to look.\n",
      "\n",
      "- `recursive` : `bool`\n",
      "\n",
      "    If true, searches subdirectories recursively.\n",
      "\n",
      "- `check_ext` : `str`\n",
      "\n",
      "    If string (e.g., '.txt'), only returns files that\n",
      "    match the specified file extension.\n",
      "\n",
      "- `ignore_invisible` : `bool`\n",
      "\n",
      "    If `True`, ignores invisible files\n",
      "    (i.e., files starting with a period).\n",
      "\n",
      "- `ignore_substring` : `str`\n",
      "\n",
      "    Ignores files that contain the specified substring.\n",
      "\n",
      "**Returns**\n",
      "\n",
      "- `results` : `list`\n",
      "\n",
      "    List of the matched files.\n",
      "\n",
      "**Examples**\n",
      "\n",
      "For usage examples, please see\n",
      "    [http://rasbt.github.io/mlxtend/user_guide/file_io/find_files/](http://rasbt.github.io/mlxtend/user_guide/file_io/find_files/)\n",
      "\n",
      "\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "with open('../../api_modules/mlxtend.file_io/find_files.md', 'r') as f:\n",
    "    print(f.read())"
   ]
  }
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